| Author | Message | ||
| Pegg Registered user Username: Pegg Post Number: 42 Registered: 2-2006 |
Hello To All Of You! I have just returned from a visit with my parents while on vacation. While there, we attended prayer meeting with them. The reading was from Ministry Of Healing, the first couple of pages of the chapter entitled Call To Service. Let's read the story from Mark 5:1-20. "So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the land of the Gerasenes. Just as Jesus was climbing from the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit ran out from a cemetery to meet him. This man lived among the tombs and could not be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles--as he often was--he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to control him. All day long and throughout the night, he would wander among the tombs and in the hills, screaming and hitting himself with stones. When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him. He ran to meet Jesus and fell down before him. He gave a terrible scream, shrieking, "Why are you bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God's sake, don't torture me!" For Jesus had already said to the spirit, "Come out of the man, you evil spirit." Then Jesus asked, "What is your name?" And the spirit replied, "Legion, because there are many of us here inside this man." Then the spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. "Send us into those pigs," the evil spirits begged. Jesus gave them permission. So the evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of two thousand pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake, where they drowned. The herdsmen fled to the nearby city and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. Everyone rushed out to see for themselves. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, but they were frightened when they saw the man who had been demon possessed, for he was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane. Those who had seen what happened to the man and to the pigs told everyone about it, and the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone. When Jesus got back into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go, too. But Jesus said, "No, go home to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to tell everyone about the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them." (You can find the same story in Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39) Matthew 4:25 tells us that many crowds followed Jesus in this area. What a story of the Free Gift! How much worse can one be than to have the devil literally living in his soul? This man did not ask for Jesus' compassion. He did not ask to be freed. And yet Jesus recognized the abject helplessness of his condition. He reached out and set him free. What in his life could this man have ever done to deserve such grace? I am struck by what follows. Jesus does not admonish him to stop communing with the devil. I think this was a heathen man (not even a Jew), yet Jesus does not set about to teach him a bunch of rules for Christian conduct. He begged to go with Jesus , but Jesus tells him that he cannot. He sends him out with one instruction - 'Go and tell what the Lord has done for you'. Meeting the Master is, by itself, lifechanging! It seems I must I have heard this story a million times. The story I have always heard was about how the devils possed the swine and the stupid townsfolks prefered their material welfare over Jesus. I never heard this story of grace. Was this the fault of the teller of the story my own? Meeting the Master is, by itself, lifechanging! I am amazed that familiar words can sound so different. I am interested in your thoughts. 1) What is the message of this story for you? 2) How do you think it is possible that the man did not even ask for Jesus compassion and yet he received it. 3) How could Jesus send this heathen as a missionary without even giving him a quick lesson in proper conduct? 4) Did this man have to adopt Jewish Laws to become an effective missionary? 5) What other observations do you have? Let's Enjoy The Search! Pegg **For those who post on CARM, I wish to acknowledge that I have shared this story there, as well. | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 155 Registered: 6-2006  |
Pegg that's so interesting! It makes me want to search for all the people who were touched by Jesus in some way, and yet were not commended for all the laws they kept. It brings to mind... the Samaritan woman at the well, the sinful woman who washed Jesus' feet with her hair (Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace.") the thief on the cross, I know there are many more. What a wonderful study Pegg, thanks! It's all about the grace of our Savior. Praise God! Leigh Anne | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 4509 Registered: 12-2003  |
Pegg, very interesting observations. You're right about Jesus having compassion on the man even without his asking for it. That is what God does for usóHe saves us without our help, and He brings us to himself even without our acknowledging we need Him. I have looked back at my own life many times, trying to understand when and how I was saved. I can look at many moments in my life when I knew I wanted to follow Jesusóbut in reality, the defining moment that set me free from bondage was His opening my eyes to the errors of Adventism. I did not WANT to leave that church, and I did not set out to prove it wrong. Jesus graciously opened my eyes as I studied His word, and I am often overwhelmed that He saw me and chose me and rescued me! I also think, Pegg, that you've made some very good observations about evangelism. Jesus' final command to the disciples was to make disciples. He told them they would be His witnesses and would receive power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and He told them they would understand many things when the Holy Spirit came. I am not negating the benefits and even the necessity of preparing missionaries today for the spiritual warfare they will face and the cultural details they'll need to understand. But as far as preaching the gospelóGod equips us Himself for what He calls us to do. Your observations remind me that in the book of Acts, when the church was first formed in its fledgling state, Peter oversaw the first Jews being born again (Acts 2), the first Samaritans being filled with the Spirit (Acts 8), and the first Gentiles receiving the Spirit (Acts 10-11). In each case, all that was required of them was belif in Jesus and the new birth followed by the public sign of baptism. God Himself established the criteria for membership in the body of Christ: hearing the truth about Jesus, receiving the Lord Jesus as Savior and being filled with the Spirit. No laws, no observances, no other requirements than a response to the message of Jesus and the indwelling of the Spirit. It strikes me that from the very beginning, God established the criteria for membership so that, forever after, arguments about requirements could be settled easily by the historical precedent of Peter's oversight of the three people groups receiving the Holy Spirit. [And these three people groups were born again in the order of succession Jesus Himself stated in the Great Commission: Judea (Jews), Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth (Genetiles).] Jesus is all we need! Colleen | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 2763 Registered: 3-2004  |
Peg, I never saw that part of Jesus life as you have described it. It opens my eyes and it makes me think and want to study the Bible more. When I look back on my life I see where God has led me and I did not know it was Him at the time. I am in awe because I was not living for Him at the time. But He was reaching down for me to draw me to Him. That is very humbling. Even writing on CARM. One SDA wrote to a response I made that it was the Holy Spirit talking. That really humbled me. I am always in AWE of God. He is so AWESOME. Diana | ||
| Pegg Registered user Username: Pegg Post Number: 43 Registered: 2-2006 |
Hello To All! Thank you each for your thoughts. I love it when we can share this way. Leigh Anne - That was exactly my reaction. I want to find the other stories that show the Free Gift so clearly. That said, I know that Jesus sometimes said "Go and sin no more". I believe that Jesus always chose His words carefully. I wonder what was the difference? Colleen - I agree that the missionary aspects are humbling. This man could only have been with Jesus for a matter of hours before the townsfolks asked Him to leave. Yet in Matthew, we see that this area is one of the places recorded where THOUSANDS followed Jesus during His ministry. This man's testimony must have been effective in laying a path for Jesus. Diana - God IS amazing! He does not need us to save us. Indeed, that is humbling! Let's Keep On With The Search! Pegg | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 2322 Registered: 11-2002 |
Pegg, Yes, that story is of the Grace given to us from Jesus. However, my SA kin make that story into proof that pigs are unclean. Their reasoning is that it is a sin to be wasteful and if pigs could have been used for food Jesus would not have driven them into the sea to drown. However, after freading that story I realize that Jesus did not drive the swine into the sea but rather the swine rushed into the sea because of their now being contreolled by demons. It is not a story of proof that pork is an unfit meat (even though it is but not in a religious way). It says the pigs plunged down the hillside into the sea. Jesus did not drive them into the sea. | ||
| Pegg Registered user Username: Pegg Post Number: 44 Registered: 2-2006 |
Hello Susan! Now that you speak of it, I've heard that twist too. I'd entirely forgotten that! :>) I also don't buy it! I believe that the Lord chooses his actions deliberately. He makes no random acts. I believe that He was in this place at this time precisely because He intended to give us the lesson of this story. Like you, I do not think that it had to do with pigs! It's An Amazing Search! Pegg |
